Untitled - TED Ankara Koleji

What’s Inside?
3
Editorial
4-5
Looking Back
The Young Ambassador
6-10
Global Youth Summit
published by TED Politics and
Diplomacy Club
Defying Gravity: Written, Directed and played by PDC
11
EurasiaMUN: Delegate Training Included and
Fun Guaranteed!
12-13
ParisMUN: Je T’Aime!
14
İGF: A Tale of Fraternity from İstanbul
15
YaleMUN: An Eli Experience
16
THIMUN Youth Assembly: Pointing an Accusing
Finger at You
17-18
MUNTR: The Wonderful Wizard of MUNTR
19-20
MUNESCO: A Tradition for PDC by Now
21-22
IYF: Our Undercover Correspondent in the Officials’
Team Reports
2
23
EuroSimA: Surviving in the Vast Lands of METU
24
Breaking Point: Darfur Action Now
25
De Facto: For a Drop of Water
26
Environ/Mental: And the Mad Man Created Colors...
27
G-AID!: A Burmese Tragedy
28
Letters from Europe: Anatomy of a Utopia
29
Right to Live: Deathly “Games”
30
The Rendition: The Kosovan Independence
31
Youthograph: The Winds of Change
32
Feature: Make-Your-Own-Conference-Kit!
34-35
Quiz: Are You a Chair/Journo/Delegate?
36-39
Photographs
Editors:
Gökcan Demirkazık
Gamze Karaca
Hazal Saral
Writers:
Bade Başak Arslan
Zeynep Azizoğlu
Bahar Cila
Gediz Çınar
Serenay Demir
Gökcan Demirkazık
Ezgi Ergin
H. Kağan İmamoğlu
Alca Kara
Olca Kara
Gamze Karaca
Aslıhan Polat
Arınç Öztürk
Hazal Saral
Barış Şen
Şayen Tokyay
İrem Tümer
Burcu Uğuz
Supervisors:
Emine Efecioğlu
Hacer Demircan
With our special thanks to
Umut Dinçer and Alca Kara...
A Pinch of Hesitation
Gökcan Demirkazık, Gamze Karaca, Hazal Saral
If they requested us to publish
another issue of the Young Ambassador,
our answer would include a pinch of
hesitation.
mind-blowing cover. How we swayed
with the melancholic and superb songs of
our favourite band Travis. How we
managed to talk about nothing but Al
Pacino for hours and how Hazal
decorated the façade of the room with her
true love for him. Sometimes our brains
were blundered with confusion, thus we
made up words like “unendless” and
“underly-estimable” as we laughed along.
We laughed alone.
We’d remember the hard times
when we were short of USB devices,
breath and motivation though we had 5
computers at total for the use of 3
persons. We’d recall them as bleak days of
fatigue and unending hours of
hopelessness which floated dangerously in
our consciences as the terrorizing
question “Will we make it?” lingered in
our minds. If we set on a journey of
flashbacks, we can’t help ourselves from
thinking the moments of strain and
ultimate displeasure when we failed to
find the keys of the PDC room, discovered
that we had run out of packs of Kisses
Chocolate that Gökcan had brought and
noticed that we still lacked in some
articles. Particularly, we saw Hazal having
a seizure each time something went
wrong with the format of the pages,
Gamze with her wet hair all over the
place and Gökcan flinching angrily as he
read the phrase “A dream came true!”
which he truly and wholly hates in the
articles for numerous times. Right now,
you should be wondering “Wasn’t there
any cherishable memories from the weeks
of work you have endured tirelessly?”
Let’s see…
People passed by the glass façade
glaring at us as if saying “How come you
work the last week?” We looked into each
other’s eyes and saw the glitter of
hardwork, hope, laughter and the innate
thought that always whispered to us the
words “You’re going to make it,
everything’s going to be all right.”.
Among all our mishaps, unfortunate
events, the funny incidents and Hazal’s
playlists, we were happy to be in that
room, only three of us, joking to each
other.
We laughed alone. But it was okay.
If they requested us to publish
another issue of the Young Ambassador,
our answer would include a pinch of
hesitation. However, a few seconds later,
we’d surely answer “Yes, yeah,
absobloominutely and certainly we’re in
for the thrill!”
We still treasure the second of joy
when we accidentally created the most
3
Three Heartelt Stories on a Common Past
Bahar Cila & Ezgi Ergin & İrem Tümer
T
he memories I have of the past
three years are generally the ones which
make me laugh my socks off, even though
on numerous occasions I felt like punching
someone in the face. In fact one time, I really
did punch someone in the face, hitting İrem
and Orçun at the same time for not listening
to me while shooting a video for the Club.
Another vivid image in my head is taking
the floor and starting to talk English in a
very French fashion, which makes everyone
laugh so hard at the accent that noone really
understands what I’m talking about.
There were times that I felt
incredibly lost, like the time in Paris, when
İrem and I couldn’t find the hotel and I kept
making statements like “If we don’t get to
our room soon, it’s not gonna be only the
rain wetting my pants.” Or the time we
were lost in the bungalow park in the Hague
(again with İrem) and we circled the same
pathway 100 times when all we had to do
was turn left instead of going straight. But
we somehow always managed to find our
destinations even if took a lot longer than it’s
supposed to.
Looking back, I think that this is the
essence of what I learnt in my years of
debating. Conferences are always a mix of
emotions, of a little ambition, happiness,
4
triumph, failure… and it is always
extremely easy to get lost. But you can
always find out what you should do next,
leaning on your old friends and being nice
to the ones you just made. I thank everyone
who was with me during this journey. I love
you all.
Bahar “El Ğhad” Cila
I
was at 9th grade when Burcek
Hoca kept insisting on me to join Debate
Club. I can clearly remember my first
Sunday with team. It was horrible, I just did
not know what to do; people were talking
about what action to be taken for Iran’s
Uranium Enrichment or the Reform of the
Security Council…Then I told myself: OK
Ezgi, this is enough for you; you should not
be a member of this club. Later, I found
myself at MUNESCO Conference, at
Education Committee being one of the most
participants. Before MUNESCO I was not a
hundred percent sure, but after that I was
totally sure that I should be a member of the
team and attend to more conferences.
We spent Sundays & Wednesday
evenings finding solutions for and debating
on critical issues of the world with our dear
chaperon Zeynep Ulus.
Next year was quite different than
first year because we were not juniors
anymore. We were told tohelp newcomers whenever they feel desperate and
hopeless about MUN. And my 3rd year
was completely different from the
previous years. I have attended to two
abroad
conferences
and
many
conferences in Turkey. PAMUN &YMUN
were incredible. I have learned many
things from them in terms of diplomacy
and spent magnificent time with my
fellow friends. My first-last MUN
conference was MUNESCO, last one was
bitter because you spent three years with
your friends in this road and you say that
I will quit.
To sum up, MUN is a greatest way
of improving your skills: your English,
knowledge about world affairs and lastly,
mainly friendship. When I look back, I
feel fantastic because of being a member
of this team. I had unforgettable
memories… I would like to thank Burcek
Hoca for insisting me to join this club.
Ezgi Ergin
o
ne of best decisions in my life
was joining PDC. (Actually back in those
days when I joined the club it was simply
Debate Club but nevermind). I still
remember the fisrt after-school meeting I
had, Zeynep Abla pointing at me and
saying “Pink Panther you are recognized”
(thanks to my lovely t-shirt), me
mumbling some things on what they
called the “floor” with shaking knees.
Soon enough, I was one of “them”.
The first conferences came along
with stressful nights and resolutions
that were hard to write. But with time,
speech-making
became
natural,
procedures were daily routines and
conferences were part of life. I believe
our year was pretty important because
we got to experience a very important
transition and we did not only attend
conferences but we also helped a great
deal in re-building the club and taking
it as far as organizing GYS.
One of the most
notable aspects
of my high
school life has
been
PDC,
nearly half of
my time passed
working
for
PDC, thinking
PDC
and
talking
about
PDC. And now,
being on the
verge
of
moving on, it is incredibly hard to
describe my feelings. Apart from the
sadness and emptiness I feel everytime I
look at the PDC Room that has been a
home for us for 3 years, I feel thankful
for all the friendships I made, all the
great moments we had together and for
all the lessons I learned. I now yield the
floor back to the remaining ones. Thank
you for everything.
İrem Tümer
5
Defying Gravity: Written, Directed and Played by PDC
From the President:
It all started nearly one year ago.
We were sitting in the debate room
(probably one of our most favorite
locations to hang out whenever we get
permission from our teachers) as usual,
chatting about the club, conferences or all
the cool people we met somewhere along
the way. Suddenly we were struck with
the brilliant idea of having a conference
of our own. I have to admit that the way
we started to work was quite upside
down, soon enough we were sipping our
coffees and talking about what to serve for
lunch. We immediately started to work on
the programme, amid the fact that even
our teachers didn't know we had a
conference.
communication with the men at the
copying place, having to talk to the
pizzaman and running in Kızılay at the
same time, all the late-night phone calls
and missing badges, in the end we were
there all dressed up, sitting in the lobby of
Neva Palas with these words echoing in
our minds: “All these people are here for
us...we did it...we did it.”
After a year of hardwork and those
extremely enjoyable 5 days, I have to
admit that GYS was one of the most
valuable experiences I ever had- and I
believe that is true for all of us-. Looking
back, I do not only feel proud to see the
outcome, but what delights me the most is
that feeling of “WE” that we managed to
have. In the end, all I can say is “We did it
and it was great!”
İrem TÜMER
(Chair of Special Committee On Middle
East)
From the Vice-Presidents:
Time passed by... Most of the
people who were there at the very
beginning were gone. What was left was a
draft of what we wanted, and me going to
school several times to meet lots of
grown-ups to arrange everything from
transportation to hotels. The following
months were full of replying to e-mails,
preparing forms, talking to Emine and
Hacer Hoca almost every break. As the
time for GYS approached, we got more
and more excited. On a miraculous
Wednesday just before GYS, the hands-on
part started. We were there, all the orgas
and some other people, trying to arrange
all the material, going to the photocopy
center a hundred times, working on the
coffee break schedules. It seemed as if we
were adults trying to organize a business
meeting. Despite all the failures of
6
I didn’t realize that the conference
was really happening until I saw a couple
of Slovakian people chatting outside Neva
Palas as I was approaching the entrance
hall. They had finally arrived and they
were there for us. At that moment I felt a
rush that I had not felt at all during the
hours I spent in the Debate Room, among
all the cardboards, folders, badges. It was
the rush of finally making what we were
working on non-stop for the past six
months real. It was at that moment that all
the running around, yelling at each other,
being almost-in-tears at times, and
laughing like crazy over the silliest things
because we had been stuck in the same
room for four hours straight trying to get
names right was worth
it. It was relief, because
we had really pulled it
off. At the same time, it
was excitement because
this
was
just
the
beginning. We had five
more days to go through,
making
sure
that
everything ran smoothly.
,
Those five days passed by too
quickly. I think that we all had the time of
our lives, and none of us wanted the
conference to end. All of a sudden, our
eyes were filled with tears as we watched
the slideshow the journo team prepared
with the conference photos. I will always
remember
GYS
as
our
greatest
accomplishment and one of the
experiences in my life that I wouldn’t give
up for anything.
when it came to making decisions.
Everyone worked really hard when it
came to GYS, even the ones we never
expected…
Last but not least, I want to thank
my co-Chair Gokcan.He helped me
during the hard decisions and controlling
the committee. He showed them the
important things they missed and even
went outside and got research results
whenever they needed. He knew when I
thought something was wrong, he didn’t
have to ask me… I hope he’ll have even a
better co-Chair next year. Lastly, I hope…
No I’m sure GYS will become one of the
most known simulation conferences and
then again, thanks everyone who made it
possible for GYS to happen…
Alca Kara
(Chair of the Human Rights Committee
Bahar Cila
(Chair of the Environment Committee)
xxx
This year, it was a first to both PDC
and the school because it was our first
time experiencing the difficulties of
hosting a conference our own! GYS was
nothing but a dream for us two years ago.
Then it started becoming something more
real after many conferences we’d attended
to and seeing all the organizational
mistakes. Of course, it would never have
been the same seeing the mistakes and
being able to not do them yourself.
However, the first GYS was a really
successful first conference. I was happy
tobecome a part of the preparation
process as a Vice President and couldn’t
think of a better team. We had no
problems whatsoever among each other
in the Presidency. Perhaps that was the
main reason GYS is no longer a dream.
But of course GYS wouldn’t have
happened if it weren’t for Emine Hoca and
Hacer Hoca. I think both Organizational
Team and Chairs Team couldn’t be better
From the Chairs:
I am a member of debate club for
three years. I have participated in many
conferences with the support of our
school. However, participating in a
conference that is organized by us in our
school was a completely different
experience. All of us worked two times
harder and was exhausted at the end but
this tiredness was very sweet and we all
miss that unforgettable one week. I had
enormous fun during the committee
work. We have delegates from different
countries and most of them were very
dedicated. I, once again, have seen that,
despite
people
speaking
different
language and thinking differently, with
the help of international conferences like
ours, we can all learn to communicate
7
and understand each other. I believe we
all taught and learned so much from our
experiences. The issue of our committee
was terrorism. It was important for
foreign delegates to debate terrorism with
the citizens of a country that is effected so
deeply by terrorism. To sum up I am very
happy to be able help the young diplomats
of the future and given the opportunity to
be one of them.
Zeynep Azizoğlu
(Chair of the Defence and Security
Committee
entertainment process sometimes turned
out to be harsh torments towards the
chairs. For instance, I was forced to
present a belly dance show and my cochair Beril was taped in the Kolej Sokağı
by Mr.No (identity to be concealed).
Meanwhile, we had fruitful debates in the
first two committee sessions, though the
only resolution we submitted failed in the
General Assembly because of some “blue
card” issues.
Hazal Saral
(Chair of the Social Affairs Committee)
From the Head of Organizational Team:
I think I should start with my own
feelings about GYS, the most enjoyable
and unforgettable conference that I have
ever attended. At first, in the registration,
when I saw all the participants taking
their badges, asking questions about the
conference to me, I feel the enthusiasm
and I saw something exciting in their
eyes. That was the time that made me say
“this conference will be perfect …”
Nearly 150 kids from different countries
and backgrounds…All seeing each other
for the very first time and are made to be
the “drunken bottle” in the middle of a
circle or pass the orange from one neck to
the other…It was truly, madly, deeply
GYS! It was what we had been dreaming
of since our first hearing the idea of
organizing a conference in our school.
It was a hard task though. A very
hard one.Dealing with all those stuff that
were concerned with the sake of the
attendees of the confrence or conducting
the debates during the sessions were the
reasons why we fainted at nights rather
than sleeping . We found it incredibly
exhausting to host a conference. Yet, it
was quite amazing and entertaining to be
involved in such an organization. As the
chairperson of the Social Affairs
Committee, I was pleased with the
members of my committee as they were
always willing to play traditional
teambuilding games, dance or Super
Poke(!) the other participants. This
8
In the closing ceremony I saw that
I was not mistaken with my thoughts in
the registration. Everyone seemed to be
satisfied with the conference, gloomy by
the unforgettable memories and puzzled
by the unbelievable friendships that they
had made in such a short time! We as the
organization team had done our best in
order to complete conference with fewer
malfunctions as possible. The first thing
that we did was deciding on the duties of
each Orga. We categorized the positions
that should be taken like; transportation,
accommodation, sponsorship, etc. and
every organizer took one. During the
conference I saw every organizer doing
their duties with grave enthusiasm and I
appreciate every organizer’s sense of
responsibility. There were times that we
came face to face with the problems
which could have effect the ongoing
conference sessions but we knew how to
eliminate those problems and we cope
with them cooperatively. Being a head
organizer was an unforgettable position
that I was proud of being given…
Burcu Uğuz
From the Head of Press:
GYS 2008 remained as a
wonderful dream, in which the hopes,
expectations and incomputable efforts of
all the participants stayed silently, until
the very day, 6th of May appeared and all
these dreams began coming true. I can
still remember the nervous expressions on
our faces when we had nothing to do but
wait for our guests in the morning of that
very day. With a sweet anxiety and pure
excitement, we were finally able to elate
ourselves
with
the
pleasurable
consequences of our strain and effort.
I participated in the conference in
the position of Editorial Assistant. We
published a daily newspaper during the
conference with a journo team consisting
of twelve journalists, all of which were
incredibly smart, enjoyable and ambitious.
Naming the paper as “The Daily
Pineapple”, we talked about the
conference, committee works and other
not-so-related events and situations in
each issue. Our mission was simply to
make people get into the atmosphere more
quickly and to leave them a
rememberance of what they experienced
and gained while they were far away
from their homes, trying to be the voice of
the youth.
I must admit that we had to work
so hard to complete the issue in one tiny
day, with minimum error and maximum
efficiency (!). I have never been in such a
rush in my entire life before but still, I
may sacrifice anything to experience
those wonderful days once more,
regardless of the pain and suffering (!)
we’ve been through. This conference is
one of the most unforgettable experiences
of my life, which seems to remain so for a
very long time. We have been through
many challenges and obstacles during the
preparation process but when I look back
right now and remember all that joy and
success the conference brought us in the
end, without any hesitation I can say that
everything was worth it. I deeply
*pineapple* GYS!
Gamze Karaca
9
EurasiaMUN: Delegate Training Included and Fun Guaranteed!
Olca Kara
Euro Asia MUN conference was
both my first experience and the first
conference of the year. It was organized
in TOBB University and our school was
the only high school there. Even though
we were inexperienced when compared
to the university students, we didn’t
hesitate to participate in this wonderful
conference. Before we started to debate on
our topics we had a crash course on how
the debate was going to be. We learned
the UN procedures and got used to
writing a resolution. In this sense,
EuroAsia MUN was a great experience for
us, especially for the 9th Grade students.
Personally, in the conference, I
was too shy to stand up to express my
opinions but as the days went by I
understood that there was nothing to be
afraid of. The more experienced
attendants, who were mostly International
Relations or Political Science students
willingly helped everyone. We had break
times for 10 minutes in every 2 hours. It
was a well thought and neatly prepared
conference that lasted 4 days and will take
place next year.
10
Beside the debating sessions and
the lectures of this mock conference, we
had a great time altogether as the
members of the Politics and Diplomacy
Club. Although this was our first
conference we were attending together
and were not used to each other in deed,
we found mid-points to enjoy the
conference and tasted the true friendship.
Our lunches in the Armada shopping mall
and our short visits to the province nearby
provided inestimable entertainment for us
(not to forget the hilarious (!) little
incident, Burcu, Gamze and Gökcan went
through after the last session ended,
which made us all roll off to floor
laughing!). On the other hand, as all
MUN conferences bring by, we got to
establish great friendships with the other
participants. As far as I am concerned, I
am looking forward to the upcoming
session of EuroAsiaMUN.
ParisMUN: Paris, Je T’Aime!
Hazal Saral
An incredible night at Le Coq, one
of the most elegant and stylish restaurants
of Paris; the city of love and passion…
Endless sidewalks of the famous
boulevard,
Champs-Elyseé…
An
interesting exploration of a Turkish
quarter, Strazburg and our pitiful
pancake buffet in front of the legendary
Eiffel Tower…
Those memories are all from our
three-day-long trip to France as the MUN
team of our school. As the American
School of Paris was hosting the second
most outstanding MUN conference of the
world (right after the famous The Hague
Model United Nations), we decided to
attend the conference with a delegation,
consisting of Alca Kara, Gökcan
Demirkazık, Ezgi Ergin, Zeynep Azizoğlu
and me. Our precious director Emine
Hoca was the one who conducted the
sequence of our trip and all other related
issues, concerning our performance in the
conference.
ParisMUN was remarkably the
most crowded and most well-known
international conference I had ever
attended. With about 700 delegates and
officials, it may be considered as a huge
activity. It took place in the Paris
headquarters of the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO).
In different
committees, including the Disarmament,
Human Rights, Environment, Political
and Special Conference Committees, we
debated on various issues; such as the
globalization and its impacts, sex tourism,
water conflicts and alternative energy
resources… We contributed to the debates
by submitting our clauses to form a
proper resolution and directing important
points of information and delivering
speeches. As it was quite crowded in
committees
(considering
that
my
committee, Human Rights consisted of
180 delegates!), it was fairly hard to have
our voices heard and make others aware
that we were also good participants.
Indeed, what made PAMUN
unique and remarkable as a United
Nations simulation was that it was the
first MUN conference in which we had
come across with a crisis situation. In the
2007 session of the conference, different
crisis topics were distributed to the
committees. These included scenarios
about the 2008 Olympic Games, Turkey’s
intervention to the northern Iraq and the
rights of the indigenous people in
Ecuador.
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and also observed the weirdest fish ever. On
the other hand, personally, I am fully loaded
with the memories of the evenings in front
of the terrific Eiffel Tower, where we were
thought to be terrorists (as Ezgi, Alca and I
looked like Arabic terrorists, kidnapping two
Brits; Zeynep and Gökcan, both blue eyed
and fair-haired)… How can I ever forget
how we were caught under an eye
investigation by an official, carrying a rifle
in his belt and preventing the taxi drivers
from taking us into their cars?
I’m sort of sensing your curiosity
about what we did in this wonderful and
impressive city apart from what we did as
delegates in PAMUN. Well, it would be a
huge lie if I said we could not fancy, since
we fairly had no moments that passed
without a laughter.
Anyways, Paris, as being my first
time abroad for an MUN conference, was a
great success and pleasure. The friendships I
strengthened with my teammates and the
sophisticated places I saw are only two
outstanding
achievements
of
this
unforgetable experience. Looking forward to
the repetitions of it, as well…
In the historic streets and admirable
cafés, we got closer to each other and
enjoyed ourselves pretty much. Our small,
cute hotel, the late night girl parties in our
slave room where Ezgi (aka Izaura) stayed
and the Fareastern maids with whom we
could not communicate with at all… I’m
hundred percent sure that none of us will
ever forget our nights at Champs-Elyseés,
where we explored the gigantic stationery
called “Virgin Megastore”, ate the most
delicious banana pancakes ever and where
we were caught under a heavy hail right
after we spent about three hours in the
Disney Store. And the “Social Event” of the
conference, of course, which took place in
an aquarium called “Cineaqua”, where we
were made to watch arty movies in Russian
12
İGF: A Tale of Fraternity fron Istanbul
Barış Şen
When the sound of the applause in
the end of İGF was heard, a sudden
change appeared on everyone’s face; an
amalgamation of triumph and sadness of
leaving all that great friendships behind.
It was such an amazing experience to
attend a conference under the roof of
Robert College during 4-7 January 2008.
It was PDC’s first EYP (European Youth
Parliament) conference as a club,
therefore at first we had some doubts.
However after we had faced the friendly
ambience and sumptuous structure of
Robert College we realized that we would
have four great days. There were
delegates from different schools, coming
from all around the country. They were
all ambitious and chummy. Yet we all
established great, life long friendships.
We, as TED Ankara College
attended the conference with 5 delegates
(Bahar Cila, Alca Kara, Barış Şen, İrem
Tümer, Gamze Karaca). We represented
our school in Environment, Social,
Economy, Middle East, Communication
and Transmission Security Committees.
Different topics were discussed. I believe
that for everyone the best and most
inviting part of the conference was teambuilding process. Teambuilding session
was on the second day of the conference.
The purpose of it was to strengthen
therelations among delegates and to
supply a better ambience to solve the
problems in the committees.
Different kinds of games were
played and everyone started to get closer
to each other. After such an enjoyable day,
debates and resolution writing process
started. It was hard for every committee to
find a mid point among different thoughts
and views. Still we put forward an
outstanding effort, and at last caught a
common point to start writing a
resolution. After two exhausting working
days, we were ready to introduce our
resolutions in the plenary. The last day
was the General Assembly where all the
committees submitted their resolutions
and debated on them. It was a tiring day
with
voting
procedures,
fevered
arguments and even fights; however, in
the end everyone was pleased and
satisfied with what we had done. Here
now sitting, remembering those memories
with a smile on my face, I am looking
forward to attending the next IGF.
13
YaleMUN: An Eli Experience
Ezgi Ergin, Hüseyin Kağan İmamoğlu, Burcu Uğuz
There we were. All six of us.
Standing in front of the Phelphs Gate,
fascinated by the ancient architecture of
Yale University. Our Yale Model United
Nations dream had just started. It was the
first time we were attending such a largescaled conference. Some of us had been to
Paris Model United Nations (PAMUN), but
this was Yale MUN, hence being unique.
When we entered the cathedral in
which the opening ceremony was going to
be held, we were totally surprised by the
huge crowd in the assembly. With over
1100 delegates, it was obvious that the
conference was going to be quite
captivating. After the opening ceremony,
we went on with our committee sessions
which were to last for 3 days. With 5
delegates in 5 different committees, we all
debated on our issues, including the
human rights violations in Burma, the
uranium enrichment of Iran and the the
role of HIV/AIDS in the less developed
countries,during all those tiring but
entertaining days. Most of the committees
were so huge that some of them had to be
separated into less sizeable bunches,
whereas one of our friends was in a
committee of 15 delegates. We were the
only foreigners in YMUN, therefore, we
found the conference a bit formidable at
first, but later on we became so used to it
that we didn’t even hesitate before making
a speech or directing a question in front
of all those native speakers. One of our
friends was even chosen the delegate with
the best accent. Apart from the committee
sessions, there were some problems with
the working of the conference, such as
notepassing not being controlled in some
committees, in which some quite
different(!) and intriguing(!) notes were
passed.
Another
thing,
we
were
disappointed at, was that the General
Assembly did not take place. Yet, it was a
great conference in general sense. We
have perfect memories which we will
never forget. For instance, we made a Yale
tour in which we were frozen to death,
but still amazed by the campus. Also,
some of our friends were taken out of
their beds in the middle of the night for a
crisis situation... A class about ‘Russian
Culture’ which we wanted to attend was
cancelled as there were no students at all,
and some of us lost their cell phones,
however found them later (not everyone
though, some bid farewell to their phones
forever...) and we ate from the same
places all the time (Subway became a
classic) and of course we had a great time
in New York before we returned to
Turkey. Fifth Avenue, Times Square,
Brooklyn Bridge, Empire States and New
York as a whole... To sum up, Yale was a
never-to-be-forgotten adventure for all of
us.
YALE FULFILLED
How can we ever forget:
our misery in the airport and our utopic flight
plans to New York,
the great comments of Barış for Times
Square,
the crisis situation that struck us at 5 a.m in
the morning,
our trials to reach the Apple Store,
Zeynep’s freezing to death,
our terrific moments with Kağan at the top of
the Empire States Building?
14
THIMUN Youth Assembly: Pointing An Accusing Finger at You
İrem Tümer
"I believe that this could very well be
looked back on as the sin of our generation. I
look at my parents and ask, where were they
during the civil rights movement? I look at
my grandparents and ask, what were they
doing when the holocaust in Europe was
occurring, and why didn't they speak up? And
when we think of our great, great, greatgrandparents, we think how could they have
sat by and allowed slavery to exist? And I
believe that our children and their children,
40 or 50 years from now, are going to ask me,
what did you do while 40 million children
became orphans in Africa?" -- Rich Stearns,
and it consisted of setting up a website about
HIV/AIDS and designing individual peer-topeer awareness projects. In simpler words: all
of the 12 participants had to design their own
campaign to raise awareness among their
society whether it be selling cupcakes or
organizing seminars. We met our participants
online at first and assigned weekly tasks
which meant having to go over 12 different
papers every week and staying up late to
make Skype calls across continents.
President of World Vision, US
That was the philosophy behind
THIMUN Youth Assembly and I have to admit
that it was quite different from what we were
used to as old school MUNers. Our usual
approach to what we did in conferences was
saying that we believed in diplomacy and
discussing huge issues like adults. (or as some
people call it playing FRP [Fantasy Role
Playing] games in real life with a touch of
politics). However in TYA, we had to do
something real and not save the world in two
pages that have the title “resolution” like we
usually did.
We participated in TYA with my usual
conference buddy: Bahar. I was one of the
coordinators of the Committee on HIV/AIDS
and Bahar was a participant of the Water and
Youth Committee. My work started nearly 2
months before the conference. I met my cocoordinator Bev. (who is Chinese but also
Canadian but lives in Australia-yep,
complicated-) and we started off by setting
the aims and content of the committee project.
Our project’s name was Act 4REAL (Act For
Reaching the End of AIDS in our Lifetime”
After what seemed like an endless
preparation phase we were there at The
Hague, moving into our bungalow that was to
be our home for the upcoming 9 days. During
committee work, we really put a lot of effort
in what we were doing; coming up with the
entire content of a website in 2 days,
developing projects and even managing to
shoot a video on HIV/AIDS. Meanwhile,
Bahar was working on their own project in
the Water and Youth Committee which
consisted of lots of interesting slogans and
visual material that were an outcome of
thorough brainstorming. One such example
was “Water you doing?” which was quite a
striking question for most of us In the end,
we were very exhausted after so much work,
but there was this feeling of actually
achieving something, which I believe proved
once again that it was all worth it.
Months after TYA, all I can say is that
it was a great experience for both of us;
because for once what we worked on was not
a great plan to save the world but a real
action that could make a small difference. I
think what TYA made us understand once
again was that we all had the capacity and
talents to come up with an answer for our
grandchildren who will one
day ask us: “What did you do to change the
world?”
15
MUNTR: The Wonderful Wizard of MUNTR
Gökcan Demirkazık
I don’t personally like being looked
down on. I really don’t. Not because my
frivolous
mannerisms
should
be
acclaimed wherever I go but rather I find
it unsettling. So when I first heard that I
was to participate in MUNTR, I
immediately started making excuses for
my future misbehaviours which might
possibly include harsh expressions and
violent expressions as responses to future
affronts relating to my age there (as very
few
high
schools
attended
this
conference). However, my predictions on
MUNTR turned out to be faulty and
useless, very typical of me. Voilà, here’s
the story how Japan was big in MUNTR!
It was a bleak, bleak day in March,
and as usual the photocopy guys were
getting on everyone’s nerves, especially on
nerves of that tall guy with scruffy light
brown hair. He and the girl next to him
were waiting attentively for Japanese
message paper to appear. This one was a
killer, featuring the cover of the girl’s
book which made it a state-of-the-art
piece of paper that you’d feel guilty
spoiling it by writing on it.
Then, the boy heard someone say
“Dress-up time!” and another exciting
voice exclaiming “Away with the bus!”.
Just as he managed to distinguish his
surroundings, he noticed that he was
present in the conference hall of TOBB
ETÜ as if he was caught up in an
infamous tornado of Kansas and
surprisingly deposited at that very place.
16
It was a strange delegation, or
should I say a gang. A girl with shiny red
shoes who was certainly not called
Dorothy, a lioness with unruly wet wavy
mane, a tin man with horribly adamant
facial expressions, a scarecrow with an
awful Justin Timberlake outfit and the
wicked witch who was in the pursuit of
the quartet with her winged killer heels (I
literally mean “killer”) and completely
resilient to water made up the Japanese
mission to the world of Oz. Oh, above all,
Bahar the Good Witch of the North, copresident
of
the
Environmental
Commission (EC), always appeared here
and then to continuously remind the gang
that they were to follow the yellow-brick
road not the yellow asphalt-paved
motorway. Later on, the Good Witch of
the North unexpectedly demonstrated her
fine skills as a provocateur and became
the sole reason of Security Council (SC)
dismantling the EC which was fortunately
a decision left unattended by the members
of the SC despite being approved by all of
them unanimously.
At the opening ceremony, the UN
Resident Coordinator Officer, Halide
Çaylan, honoured us with her influential
presence and best part of the first day was
free UN Charters! For the next four days,
the strange gang had been prepared to
tackle issues varying from child soldiers,
admission of Taiwan to the UN and media
censorship to global warming and a crisis
that included Pakistani university
students, the avian flu and the current
situation in Kosovo at the same time on
which their fellow Ozzians had
shockingly
accurate
and
broad
information though these issues were
about some far-off planet called the Earth.
I must admit that some interesting
scenes took place in the conference:
During the fourth session of the Fourth
Committee, each delegate was wary of the
ongoing and escalating tension between
the Middle Eastern and European nations
since that morning. The tipping point
dawned when the European side rejected
the motion of the Iranian delegate for the
third time and consequently the Iranian
delegate left the House, scandalising all of
the participants of the conference.
Anyways, during the following days of the
conference, the Japanese mission to the
world of Oz, seemed to be prominently
active, heaving crucial responsibilities
both in writing resolutions to solve the
aforementioned
problems
and
contributing to the debates.
The final things I’d like to say is
that all the delegates, admins, organizers,
chairs and rest of the staff were extremely
nice to all of us. There was no incident we
were mocked because of still being high
school students or underestimated, instead
we were all offered accolades for our
great accomplishments in the conference
despite our ages. So, I was wrong again.
Duh, I didn’t think of a way to end this
article properly, I think I’ll have to stick
with the usual one: And we lived happily
ever after.
And with a click the sypmphony managed a second of pause.
The two Witches of an unknown land called Oz,
A fierce Lioness, a Kansas gal and an animated Tin Man
Created an ensemble that no one can.
While the pause made it into eternity,
The Scarecrow thanked them humbly.
17
MUNESCO: A Classic for PDC by Now
Serenay Demir, Arınç Öztürk, Zeynep Üstün
GENERAL CONFERENCE
When we got off the school bus, I
thought “This doesn’t seem like much of a
hell hole (!), they have been telling about
throughout the year!”. However, a few
hours later, I managed to interpret the
ambitious manners and sophisticated
opinions of delegates, and consequently I
thought “Wow, what an arduous
conference!”: With an impressive opening
ceremony the most recent session of the
(in)famous conference that some of my
friends (who had attended it the previous
year) were still marveling at, MUNESCO
2008 began.
Firstly, as TED Ankara College we
participated in the conference with two
delegations, one being my delegation,
Republic of India and the other, Republic
of Iraq. I’m inclined to say that we had
really productive and daring delegates
who knew a great deal about their issues!
Our first day was genuinely brisk
and hectic. We tried to influence other
delegates and find supporters for our
resolutions. In fact, I was successful on
this day because some of those delegates
happened to be my friends and thus, it
was easy to find sponsors but the best part
of that day was the dinner. It was buffet
meal and hence splendid!
On the second day, we all gathered
in some classes in accordance with our
specific commissions. Batu was in our
commission as a delegate of Iraq. Yet, the
subjects of our resolutions were totally
18
different so we were not in the same
merging group.
Also, we strived to merge our
resolution clauses with the other clauses
which had been prepared by other
delegations. I can label the process
“nourishing” and “gratifying” because
sharing your opinions and trying to
convince people who were from other
schools was unfamiliar and hence in a
strange way, pleasurable. At the end of
this day both of us (Batu and I) were the
main submitters of the resolutions that
were the final results of us combining our
clauses with the clauses of other delegates.
The third day, we had engaged
ourselves in defending our resolutions. At
the beginning, Batu advocated for his
resolution and it passed with the majority
of votes. My resolution was the second
one. The delegations in the commission
tried to fail my resolution but I struggled
to alter this unfortunate condition and
achieved to change their opinions. I was
all alone; my co-submitters didn’t back
me up, still, I was full of ardor. I did my
best in this short period of time and I
accomplished in finding some supporters
for my opinions. Unfortunately, the
commission failed my resolution but this
ardent and moving period was a success
for me.
The next day, all of the delegates in
commissions of the General Conference
were to proceed in general assembly.
According to the procedure, the approved
resolutions had to be debated in the GC:
By this way, exemplary but also
professional resolutions were formed. In
this part of the conference, you often find
the
debate
stressful
because,
undelibarately, you find yourself in the
middle of the debate.
One resolution was presented by
the Indian delegation to the GC while two
Iraqi resolutions were debated and
fortunately they all passed. In fact three
resolutions out of five were submitted by
PDC! A triumphant result! I’m proud of
my friends who have been through lots of
trouble to achieve this result.
The only thing that I can’t forget is
the ambitious atmosphere. I think all the
delegates should face up with this. To get
over many problems, I challenged people
a lot and did my best. My passion and
effort in this conference made me bold
and gutsy, I believe. I will always be
cherishing this conference.
since we had time to try salsa moves with
Gökcan! When we finally reached the
food, we started to laugh without
knowing the reason why, in a lunatic
way, half-crazed with greed. And once,
we were so hungry and eating so violently
that Gökcan, Şayen, Gediz and I were
mistaken for little pathetic orphans who
had not been given food for a week, by the
onlookers. Well, since all my amusing
memories somehow include elements
related to “food”, you may think that all of
the PDC members are starving and
constantly eating and you wouldn’t be
precisely wrong… So if you happen to see
a group of people with full plates,
chewing with full mouths, eyes wide open
and smiling without realizing they have
bits left in their teeth: Welcome, it is most
probably our table!
SPECIAL FOCUS
I’ve never thought that something
could be so tiring and enjoyable at the
same time. Still, the following records are
the palpable proof of it.
Well, we were all separated into
committees in the conference and mine
was Special Focus I, which actually
consisted of enthusiastic and willing
delegates as well as two divinely funny
chairs. Our days passed with long hours
of thinking, producing, debating, and
voting on everything ranging from
Turkey’s political affairs to what to do in
summer, and of course with our chairs’
desperate efforts to make us play games.
As a result of these fruitful days, both of
the resolutions failed in the General
Assembly, unfortunately!
Everyone knows that debating can
be boring and exhausting sometimes; but I
also want therefore all of you to know that
we also had a lot to do beside it. Waiting
in the long queue, enclosed with the
unbearable fear of the food going off, was
just a little source of happiness for us,
EXECUTIVE BOARD
MUNESCO, an experience you
simply just can’t put into words. Of course
as any MUN conference MUNESCO has its
clichés as well; every committee within
itself prepares resolutions, has ‘fruitful’
debates and gains both bitter and sweet
memories. Now that the conference is
over there is a feeling reminding me of
emptiness since we were so overly
exaggerating the conference. Yet, it
passed by vivaciously before our eyes and
we were totally amazed because this
experience was a matchless one among all
other conferences. In the lobbying day, we
got a chance to see old faces and
reminisce the past as we did find a chance
to meet new faces that we would never
forget. All in all, MUNESCO seemed to be
a fulfilling conference in all aspects.
19
EuroSimA: Surviving in the Vast Lands of METU
Zeynep Azizoğlu
The second session of the
EuroSimA Conference was held in Middle
East Technical University between 2427th of April. Although the conference
was actually open to the participation of
the university students, due to the
experience and highly developed skills
that our club members had showed in
previous conferences, seven of our friends
applied and were accepted for the
conference.
The
delegates
who
participated in the conference were,
Burcu Uğuz, Hüseyin Kağan İmamoğlu,
Gökcan Demirkazık, Barış Şen, Hazal
Saral, Zeynep Azizoğlu and İrem Tümer
who was chosen for the charing position
in Home and Justice Affairs Committee.
EuroSimA was a challenging
conference for several reasons. Firstly, we
were the youngest delegates between the
attendants and most of the other delegates
were university students who were
studying politics, international relations
or law. However, the events evolved
opposite to what we have expected. All of
our friends put on enormous efforts in the
committee work and gained the heart of
the university students. Our friends
amused every one with their level of
English, with their experience and with
their social skills. We were also very
proud to hear that two of our friends are
awarded due to their performance in the
Conference.
Gökcan’s
name
was
announced by the president, Defne
Gönenç, with her also kind remarks about
20
him. She announced her as the best
delegate I have seen in my life. This is of
course very honoring for our club and for
my fellow friend Gökcan. Kağan was also
given an Outstanding Delegate Award for
he was a remarkable paragon of
achievement as the Dutch Delegate and
he was the gravity centre of the debates
where the most of the procession of the
debates evolved by his arguments in the
Home and Justice Affairs Council (HJAC).
Being in that committee myself, to witness
his impressive knack for constructing
valid arguments, it made me think that he
excelled in diplomacy and proved that he
had a wonderful academic background
that is even comparable to the most au fait
and experienced members of PDC.
All in all, rest of our friends was
very successful, too. One of the attendants
said in the daily of the Conference that: “I
don’t like the high-school students
because they make me feel old.” I believe
everyone who has participated in the
conference learned a lot of things and had
fun. We witnessed the university
environment, learned and taught things,
gave break, made good friends and
improved their skills.
What’s more, for the fun part, our
fast paced strolls through the campus
jungles
that
were
unbelievably
entertaining, our challenge to stand up,
immobilized, in “dolmuş” which swarmed
with sweaty people and Burcu defending
charitable work and humanitarian aid to
Africa against some vicious and merciless
people in “dolmuş” make everything
unforgettable. Or rather should I mention
the sensational (!) food at the cafeteria,
and some people’s especially Barış, Hazal
and Gökcan’s unending trials of taking
artistic and usually meaningless photos
where Kağan and Burcu served as the
perfect models? If you’re demanding for
exceptionally well-managed conferences
and frivolous hilarity, EuroSimA is just the
befitting event for you!..
NATO: Destination Unknown (or the Realm of Questionable Victories)
Şayen Tokyay
Nowadays, seeing the
confident signature of
NATO (North Atlantic
Treaty Organization),
under the global aid
campaigns,
an
admission document
accepting or objecting
to a new member state or as a helper
organization in specific countries with its
ambitious troops (such as in Afghanistan)
just as a teenager trying to prove herself,
should not surprise you. In my opinion,
especially during the last ten years, the
change in NATO’s nature is a big question
mark in the abstruse mind of the world
and unfortunately, of the members of
NATO, as well. Enlarging their endeavour
to world’s issues and being more
comprehensive in size and more
efficacious through new members, the
term used to express the deviation of
NATO in the 21st century is ‘enlargement
of NATO in structure and goals’’. This
procession seems to contribute to the
continuum of a hot debate; for a hard
question lingers in everyone’s minds:
‘Where has NATO been heading?’ The
answer is tangibly puzzling; as it’s clear
from non-accepted states and the missions
that have the illusion of a ‘Mini-UN’.
(Howard Lafranchi)
NATO was established in 1949 and
started its long journey with the key
words ‘security’, ‘defence’ and for ‘acting
as a whole’, in the Euro-Atlantic area;
regardless of the possible future problems
being pertinent to military or politics. It
has been underlined many times in the
treaty, in the core of NATO. The treaties’
sentences were surrounded by a smell of
cooperation; ‘They, the members, seek to
obvious aim be upheld against the
vigorous winds of time or will NATO
choose the path of its mind and head to
unknown directions, without bothering
the original principles?
Seeming to be full of difficult
missions; NATO acted wisely and
NATO worked efficiently during
the first years. No doubt, the well-known
example was its contribution against the
communist regimes in the Cold War.
Although the endless debates on NATO’s
role in the war on communism still take
place, I think what NATO had to do was
what NATO did during and even after the
Cold War, in the conflict between the East
and the West. Another example could be
9/11 attacks to USA, though the mind of
NATO started to get hold of new ideas,
which would all be left half-done in the
following decade. Nevertheless, USA had
the adequate support through the military
network of NATO, which was reinforced
by new members’ capacity of forces.
NATO began 21st century, showing the
world its influence on stability and
security of its member states, in a silent
celebration of power.
SPECIAL ISSUE
promote stability and well-being in the
North Atlantic area.’ However, will this
increased the number of various partners
and members in its alliance and kept
appearances up with the international
organizations from the beginning. The
clever bonds between the International
Security Assistance Force (ISAF) or the
partnerships with non-member countries
have been well-planned. Moreover the
consequence of NATO strengthening itself
was the beginning of triumph over the
power of Soviet Union (which was the
indomitable one and which led Europe
and Atlantic to have such an
organization).
21
SPECIAL ISSUE
With the advancement of 21ST
century, NATO began widening itself with
the means of partners which will lead to a
more dominant organization. However,
NATO took an important settlement with
its help to Afghanistan. Being entirely
global! “This is one of the most
through all these as it has a reliable
military power and political authority.
When the officials and the
politicians discuss this recent and
complicated aim of NATO, trying to
expand its boundaries each day, with the
dangerous term ‘worldwide’, one more
thing
is
being
talked
over
argumentatively. Should NATO change its
point of view from top to bottom? Evident
from its missions in Afghanistan, Bosnia
or Iraq that they sought for this purpose
and that they are undergoing a kind of
metamorphose. For this, NATO prepared
the ‘Study on Enlargement of NATO’ to
avoid all the questions. They took the risks
to reach their new destination, claiming
that these will help out their rooted
ambitions and the betterment of their
ways through the irreplaceable success.
challenging tasks NATO has ever taken
on, but it is a critical contribution to
international
security”
stated
the
Secretary General of NATO, Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer, in a defensive manner. NATO
sent 47.000 troops to the area together
with its partner ISAF as if it had to. Yes, a
fact is that the conflict in Afghanistan was
crying for help but the question lies under
the name ‘’NATO’’. If the aim was to
stabilize the Euro-Atlantic area on the day
of hardships and threat, who could
explain the point in having missions ‘outof area’? Mr. Secretary General can. And
he did, through our most fragile point; the
foremost
danger
of
our
times;
international security and terrorism.
Nowadays,
terrorists
and
unstabilized countries are troubling
enough to distress the world; such as
Afghanistan, Iraq and Kosovo. Even so,
lots
of
international
organizations
are providing
aids to these
countries and
the UN is just
one of them.
So, being a
new helper is
not so realistic. Besides, the efforts NATO
made to help Afghanistan brought it lots
of burden, much bureaucracy than it
had… But NATO believes that it can get
22
On the other hand, NATO is now
thirsty for more capacity to demonstrate
their efficacious work in the world. They
would like to reach a more powerful and
more affluent stage, with the valuable
leading of their outstanding members,
such as the USA. However, from my point
of view, although some analysts claim that
the work will maintain the stabilization
process in the area, the decisions NATO
may take should be lasting, which can
also be changed according to the
situations; because the point which NATO
tries to get access to right now is pretty
different and far from what they aimed
and put as a basic intent in the very
beginning of their journey. Claiming that
NATO can open its doors as if it would
help Europe, may not be enough in each
case.
In the light of the so-called
deviation comes also the question topic
that is one of the most pre-eminent in our
decade, the new members in the heart of
NATO. NATO needs new members; in
order to make its protective wings for
Europe the ‘’bestest’’. Additionally, to
entire world; either temporarily or
permanently. Despite the agreements on
new members each year, unsound voices
of objections came from France and
Germany in the justification of
recognizing the membership of countries:
When the candidate status of Georgia and
Ukraine was in the debate, the chancellor
of Germany and the president of France
did not want to allow them in, without
clearly telling ‘Why?’. (Nonetheless, in the
2008 summit of NATO, in Bucharest, it is
decided that these countries WOULD
become members.) Was not the most
important step cooperation? Once in a
while, it might not.
In addition to each milestone, in
the explanation of the ideological rebirth
of NATO, not relating to the discarding of
the previous ambiguous uneasiness
between NATO and Russia, would be a
crucial fault. Contradicting the fact that
being sworn enemies for decades, having
special joint councils for the flow of
information points out a linkage between
NATO and Russia… They all are the clues
for the transformation of NATO and how
it changed its structure.
Surrounded by challenges in
memberships, relations and dawning of
conquests in new operations, NATO has
been heading to be an ultimately potent
organization, from all perspectives. Yet,
what is hard to conceive is that whether it
will be in “charge” of these all together as
NATO has new responsibilities? NATO, do
remember, altering yourself with the
pretexts of the links between Europe and
everything you are doing, are trials to
build an almost new ‘you’. It may lead to
an unpleasant end. You are enlarging and
are on the way of becoming the
“superintendent” of the world; does it
really matter, attaining your goals
perfectly? Whatever, you aspire to be, the
champion of international platforms with
your military, acquiring a shiny
superlative adjective ‘most powerful’ or to
be ‘the one’… Cooperation, flawless
relations, brand-new members are your
brain and your brain is to safeguard your
area, the Euro-Atlantic; through where
you want to supervise the whole world by
modifying your way to questionable
victories.
SPECIAL ISSUE
23
Darfur Action Now
Başak Bade Arslan
We usually hear politicians
mentioning Darfur and the UN reports
concerning Darfur. Yet, what do we know
about the situation of the state? The
simplest thing we can say is that there is a
civil war in Darfur between the rebels
and the government of Sudan. However,
the situation is even more complicated.
The conflict is mainly between the tribes
and the caciques. The crisis is not only in
Darfur but it also damages the stability of
the region. Moreover, the chaos is
sustained by environmental problems. As
the UN Secretary General Ban-Ki Moon
stated after his trip to Darfur, it is
impossible to find a single solution to the
situation. In order to provide peace to the
region, we have to find solutions to all
dependent factors.
Darfur is a western state of Sudan,
with a population of six million
and
within an area just as large as France. The
majority of people living in Darfur are
Africans while the majority of people and
administration of Sudan are made up by
Muslims and Arabs. The crisis which is
labeled as “genocide” began in 2003
when “Sudan Liberation Movement” and
“Justice
and
Equality
Movement”
recruited primarily from the land-tilling
non-Arab Fur, Zaghawa, and Massaleit
ethnic groups. Although the official
governmental statements denied it,
Sudanese government has provided
money and assistance to the militia and
has participated in joint attacks targeting
the tribes from which the rebels have
been drawing support.
The conflict that has materialized
between farmers and nomads was
triggered after the discovery of petrol.
Darfur is rich in petrol but only the
administrative officials can benefit from
it, while 40% of the population remains
below the poverty line. Furthermore,
disagreements stirred up by water
between the tribes give in to the ongoing
rebellious movements. Given these
conditions, the rebellious movements are
backed up by the public. In order to quell
the rebel riots, the government supported
24
Janjeweed militas who burned down the
cities and raped women instead. Then the
clashes were divided into three groups,
consisting of the conflicts altering
between
the
government,
rebels,
Janjeweed militas and public.
Observers
indicate
that
a
considerable majority of Muslim civilians
Are adversely affected by the uprisings
and their consequences.
According to UN data, at least
400.000 people died, 4.000.000 people
became dependent on HIV/AIDS and
2.500.000 people became homeless. Some
of them migrated to Chad and some of
them took shelter in humanitarian assist
camps. However, women who leave the
camp to find water or food are frequently
raped.
For a long time, the international
community wasn’t involved in the
situation. At last, substantial measures
were decided on to be taken but the
Sudanese government who is blamed for
supporting the military groups and doing
ethnic cleansing blocked the action.
Finally, after all the embargos and
sanctions, the government agreed on UN’s
interference in 2007. Today there are
7000 soldiers belonging to African Union
Peacekeeping Force but the number is not
enough. The peace keeping summits have
not resulted in any tangible consensus and
the crisis remains fragile and volatile…
For a Drop of Water
Bahar Cila
The Politics and Diplomacy Club is all
about taking on the roles of adults. As
diplomats, as ambassadors, as ombudspeople.
But this time, for a change, I write this article
through the point of view of a young person. A
young person who is gravely worried about
what is about to happen if things do not
change soon enough. A young person who has
taken action. A young person who wants to
share her experience, hoping that I can
influence some more to do likewise. That’s
why, this time, I write as myself. I write about
my journey in the water politics and I seek
your patience and participation.
The first time I realized that something
was wrong with the water situation was when
I heard the city of Ankara would have water
supply only once in two days for a whole
summer. I started to question: I live in a capital
city, a metropol. How come we do not have
sufficient water? And the decision did not only
concern households, it included factories,
offices, and most importantly, hospitals.
Having no water meant no sanitation. It meant
going back to the 18th century.
It was not until I got accepted to a
conference to the Water and Youth Committee
in the THIMUN Youth Assembly that I really
sank deep into the issue. Our aim was to
design and execute an awareness campaign on
water, for which we started working a couple
of months beforehand. During my research I
came across facts that are horrifying. The
facts are not only about water stress, they
are about clean water, about waterborne
diseases, about having access to water,
about having to share a water resource or
having no water resource at all.
Did you know that more than 200
water resources in the world are shared
and thus competed over by two or more
countries? I didn’t. Did you know that in
the developing world, 90% of the
population has no access to clean water? I
didn’t. Did you know that 40% of the
world's inhabitants currently have
insufficient fresh water for minimal
hygiene? I didn’t. Did you know that a
child dies every 15 seconds from easily
preventable water-related diseases? I
didn’t. But I learnt as I read, and my fear
of what’s happening now, and what is to
happen in the near future, got bigger and
bigger. And I felt the urge to do something
about it.
So I put my heart and soul into the
campaign. I spent a lot of time doing
research. I put in hours trying to grasp all
the areas of this many-folded issue and I
saw all the things that can be done. The
things that can be done but are completely
ignored by the majority of the world
population. Simple things. Like putting a
stop to singing in the shower and saving 2
minutes’ worth of water. Or not leaving
the tap running while brushing your
teeth. Or not doing the dishes by hand.
Everyday things that can save up to 150
tons of water per year.
It is absolutely certain that we have
to raise the amount and quality of the
world’s water. We need to start recycling,
we need to be more water-conscious. We
need to work in order to provide access to
safe water all around the world. And as
“we”, I mean the youth. The power of
youth in raising awareness and taking
action is more powerful than any adult
bureaucracy. It is fresh, creative and
heartfelt. This is the reason why I’ve
written this article. To call upon you all to
join in, any way you can. To be conscious.
To be aware. To be active. Because as
youth, we do have the power to change
the world.
P.S. This is the last column I write for the
Young Ambassador. So long De Facto!
25
And the Mad Man Created Colours...
Gamze Karaca
“People may be said to resemble not
the bricks of which a house is built, but the
pieces of a picture puzzle, each differing in
shape, but matching the rest, and thus
bringing out the picture.” said a wise man,
Felix Adler once and defined ‘diversity’ as a
unifying factor in each branch of life rather
than a reason for creating differences and
accordingly obstacles among the members of
our world and our environment. Diversity is
the very identity of the planet we live on and
furtermore, the reflections of this simple
characteristic property is visible in everything
that belongs -or once upon a time belonged- to
this planet. Thus, it is also one of the most
fundamental need and property of the living
organisms on our earth, who are to create the
populations, communities and respectively the
ecosystem we also are a part of.
Biodiversity is basically the variation of
life forms within a certain ecosystem, biome or
for the entire Earth. Biodiversity found on
Earth today consists of many millions of
distinct biological species, which is the product
of four billion years of evolution. Many
theories on the subject encompass the attention
to subtitles such as ‘species richness’ and
‘species evenness’ which can be defined as ‘the
number of species in a given area’ and ‘a
measure of biodiversity which quantifies how
equal the community are numerically’
respectively. Broadly, biodiversity is the
prosperity of the species of all the living
organisms on the earth.
Besides the environmental priority of
the issue, biodiversity is also a key factor in the
well-being of mankind. Since 40 per cent of
the global economy is based on biological
products and processes, it is inevitable no to
get affected by the biological and
environmental states and changes in the world
for human beings. The source of most of the
crucial fields in life such as agriculture,
animal husbandry, food, medicines, timber,
fuel and even the poor who mostly rely on the
planet’s natural capital for health and
livelihoods and accordingly the entire
economy are the environment and thus, the
betterment and stableness of the components
of the nature directly alters the welfare of
humankind.
26
Besides all this formality process, the
very basic question is; "Do the people act
sensitively towards this significant issue?" The
answer is, of course, an ultimate 'no'. The
human being, who is always allergic to the
matters that played the lead role for the
continuity of the world and the environment,
once more shows up. Human activities all over
the world cause irreversible damages and
progressive loss of living things, and
respectively, of many animal and plant species
which ends up with extinction of these
organisms.
In the international platforms,
numerous treaties and conventions have been
submitted and implemented on the issue so far,
as well as many are still on the table. The solid
product of these facilities are an agreement
made in April 2002, under the umbrella of
United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) at the sixth meeting of the Conference
of the Parties to the Convention on Biological
Diversity which aims: 'to achieve by 2010 a
significant reduction of the current rate of
biodiversity loss at the global, regional and
national levels as a contribution to poverty
alleviation and to the benefit of all life on
earth.', and was also endorsed by the World
Summit on Sustainable Development.
Biodiversity was also one of the key subjects of
the
'five-year
Millennium
Ecosystem
Assessment (MA)' in which UNEP was a
partner, and which concluded in 2005, taking
resembling decisions and actions.
Diversity is, hereby, the very base of
the immutable balance of each an every
organism on the earth, and therefore, is the
only ticket leading to a healthy and 'existing'
world. Hundreds of years later, when our
grandchildren will be obliged to smell only one
flower species on the ground, when they will
be destined to see birds in just one colour
around, when they will be so far from the
world they see in their grandfathers'
photographs, they will chastise us severly by
asking a simple question, which all of us
should be preparing the answers for right
now: "What the heck were these fickle and
deleterious people thinking of? 'So the mad
man created the colours, let's go, blacken
them?!?'"
A Burmese Tragedy
Aslıhan Polat
Burma is one of the largest
countries in Southeast Asia. Burma’s
meaning addresses the regime that has
been currently in power over the country:
It is ruled by military dictatorship which
is called, the military junta It is a kind of
government that prefers (!) not to offer
medical support for the HIV/AIDS
patients and say: “Let them eat frogs” to
their citizens… To be honest, this kind of
approach towards politics had not been
on the agenda since Marie Antoinette.
On May 4th, Burma was struck by
a huge cyclone, which resulted in the
death of thousands, the destruction of
about 20,000 homes and 90,000 people
being homeless. This terrifying natural
disaster was soon going to be named the
“Narcissos Cyclone”. After this horrible
disaster, Burmese government officially
requested help from the United Nations.
However,
quite
ironically,
the
government formally rejected this help by
stating the following sentence: “We are
not willing to accept international
assistance, we would more preferably
request for bilateral aid; government to
government.”
Consequently,
some
nongovernmental and inter-governmental
organizations and officials were in the
move to reach Burma to provide the
humanitarian aid, however the Burmese
junta declined to issue visas for them.
What’s more, the junta forced a CNN
reporter to leave the region and to stop
reflecting the reality; in a nutshell, the
main aim was to conceal the misery of the
Burmese people. The junta formally
declared that they would accept aid that is
limited to food or cash financial aid but
the officials also announced that they
would not accept foreign laborers,
volunteers or organization individuals in
the state borders.
The Burmese citizens are under
extremely poor conditions, which lead to
numerous deaths via starvation, lack of
sanitation and other essential needs, and
epidemic diseases. On the other hand, all
that the current government proclaims is
that their citizens are “luckily” able to do
fishing or feed on frogs. Therefore it is
firmly expressed that the public can
survive this catastrophe without any
international assistance. Unquestionably,
the junta is in the wrong path to deal with
the situation; the demonstrations against
the government and its calamitous
political moves are widespread around
the country.
Quite surprisingly, the junta has
officially made it public that they would
allow all the assistant workers into the
country after weeks of denial of access to
those beyond the border. This delay cost
the Burmese dearly; statistics point out
approximately 78,000 people who were
killed, another 56,000 that went missing
and 2.5 million survivors who were made
to eat frog and catch fish every day. At
total, this capricious move meant for the
lives of more than 2,634,000 people It
could, without any doubt, be considered
as a crime against humanity. If that
doesn't constitute a crime against
humanity, then what does? All those
people beseeching the world citizens for
help and salvation…
Do the humane jurisdictions allow
this the type of direct attack to the
fundamental rights of the living human
beings? Can the refusal of assistance and
ignoring the misery of its people be a
political strategy of a government?
Somehow, this terrible situation still keeps
itself from being an embarrassment for all
the past and present civilizations.
27
Anatomy of a Utopia
Gökcan Demirkazık
A wise man called Marshall
McLuhan
with
a
straightforward
futuristic vision once said: “Politics will
eventually be replaced by imagery. The
politician will be only too happy to
abdicate in favour of his image, because
this image will be much more powerful
than he could ever be.” When I first got
across to these lines, my reaction was of
no surprise, since I deemed it nothing but
a prophecy revealed too late; this quote
was fairly correct for the 21st century.
Still, by the time I learn that these words
belonged to the year of 1971 and Mr
McLuhan had passed away in 1980, I
stood baffled, my eyes fixed on the words:
“Such a genuine foresight!” I exclaimed.
I pronounced those four little
words of astonishment
during I was doing
some research to write
this article. Because it
reminded me of the
majestic change Europe
had undergone in the
previous
century,
especially
the
late
decades of the 20th
century: We no longer recall a continent
overwhelmed by the terrorizing shade of
the Cold War cast upon it, when the word
“Europe” rings in our ears. The images of
Nicholas Sarkozy, Gordon Brown, and
Angela Merkel all seem to be associated
with prosperity, economic opportunities
and stability by the youth all over the
world: There is an obvious increase in
Eastern European students that single out
remaining in Europe, getting on their
studies there and abandoning the socalled “American Dream”. In contrary to
the saying “The grass is always greener on
the other side.” that challenges the
validity of imagery, the appearances of the
politicians I mentioned do not just signify
masters of diplomacy ruled by ambition
but rather a Europe on the rise just after
its mid-life crisis…After all, it makes me
wonder whether or not “United European
States” is a “fictional” utopia.
The idea dates back to 1923 and
originates from a co-founder of the pan
28
European movement, Austrian Kalergi.
Despite not being on the spotlight for
decades, the applicability and soundness
of the idea is constantly discussed by the
disputatious European politicians, today.
With the refusal of the European
Constitution by the Netherlands and
France in 2005 through referenda, this
issue has been the most delicate point of
Europe that requires only the most tactful
phrases to be dealt with.
What is all this tumult about and
what are the main aspects of this multifaceted
constitution,
indeed?
The
Constitution basically proposed the
establishment of the positions of EU
foreign minister and a more durable
European Union (EU) President, mutual
defence
policies,
the
activation of a “double
majority” and qualified
majority system that ensures
the command of wider
respect for the decision of
EU, increase in numbers of
common policy areas from
34 to 70, a binding charter
of rights and a reproaching
clause that snaps at future-withdrawals
from EU, implying that it will not be that
easy. If you consider these thoroughly,
you can clearly spot the uncanny
resemblance to a confederate-state.
The scenario of an ultraliberal EU
where national sovereignty has lost all its
functions may have scared off the French
voters and their Dutch counterparts or the
fear that British impact on EU becomes far
sizeable may have driven them into
frenzy, yet how long will this defensive
and conservative attitude last? Will the
powerful political figures of the Old
World be able to conquer the hearts of
their nations as the debate escalates? No
one can answer these questions exactly,
yet all can claim that Europe is on the way
of multi-polarizing the world and
becoming the new face of innovation and
sustainability by waging and profiting
from peace. This visualization makes me
gasp and murmur: “Images are the most
powerful assets one can acquire, indeed.”
Deathly “Games”
Gediz Çınar
“Allowing Beijing to host the
Games would help the development of
human rights.” said the Vice President of
the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee, Liu
Jingmin. To see if the games would be
beneficial for such melioration, we should
take a look at the situation in Tibet.
To begin with the prisons in China,
we can see that the system is very tough.
There are death penalties and people are
often murdered extrajudicially. The other
point that should be raised is the torture
and abuse in the prisons: The prisoners
are agonized violently and subjected to
various kinds of torment. Many of those
who cannot handle this situation even
commit suicide in the prison. For
example; a Tibetan arrested in Lhasa in
August 1999 for trying to raise the
Tibetan flag in the public square was
brutally beaten and racked before taken
away by the Public Security Officers. In
March, it was reported that he had
committed suicide because he couldn’t
endure and get along with the conditions
in the prisons. In addition to that, women
are abused and they are obliged to do the
hardest work that requires a great amount
of physical constitution there.
The second eminent point is the
lack of transparency in governance and
freedom of the press. The pressure on the
local press still persists and casts its bleak
shadow on citizens while the media
employees
are
repeatedly
fired.
Censorship is fervently applied on the
websites with the aim of “terminating”
the ones who publish audacious (!)
political news.
Thirdly, the attitude towards
Human Rights Activists makes up quite a
considerable subject. Several groups of
demonstrators were roughly punished
and sent to the prison. For one thing, a
counselor of law called Chen Cuagchang
who was a blind man had been the target
of the guardians and was assaulted
cruelly.
Now, if all the points are to be
taken into consideration, will the
Olympics help the amelioration of human
rights as the Vice President said or should
we just abet the countries which are
boycotting it?
Even though some countries have
the idea of boycotting the Olympics, some
of them oppose this idea adding that it is
nonsense. For instance, Slovak Prime
Minister Robert Fico said a boycott would
be pointless and suggested that the aim of
those games is to tie, not to divide. British
PM Gordon Brown, confirmed that they
would be there when the flame arrives.
Also, the Danish PM, Spanish Minister of
Foreign Affairs and the Australian
Minister for Foreign Affairs have admitted
the significance and benefits of the
Olympics for the betterment of China and
stated that they would be present in the
ceremonies.
After the statements of different
countries, the gravity and the role of the
Olympics to bond people have been
clarified. However, it is still unknown
whether a series of game is sufficient to
put an end to such violations that have
been ongoing for so long...
29
The Kosovan Independence and Its Costs
Hazal Saral
“The most certain test by which
we judge whether a country is really free
is the amount of security enjoyed by
minorities,” once said John Dalberg
Acton, commonly known as Lord Acton,
who played a tremendous role for the
motivation of nations on their way to
liberty with his remarks towards how the
basic rights of the minorities should be
enjoyed.
History has been a histrionic stage
for diplomacy and politics, mostly bloody
,dishonest and cruel. Still, is it a discreet
approach
to ignore the scripts that
blossomed among this artificial and
tyrannic social order? The struggle of
nations for liberty is the most virtuous and
sacred scene of this scenario…as long as
this liberty is achieved only by the own
initiative of the nation and does not lead
to being a dependency of certain powers.
The 17th of February, 2008 can be
disputed from various points of view if it
is said to be a holy contestation of the
Kosovan people for liberation from the
Serbian authority. As a well-organized
operation of NATO on the region is
concerned, instead of a strife between the
Kosovan and Serbian forces and a
consequent triumph, the declaration of
independency that was made by the
president, Haşim Taci, carries his nation
into a lot more different dimension from
Palestine, who has been fighting to regain
her right to “promised lands” or the
Turkish nation, who struggled against
imperialism and subserviance to reach
their freedom, both in political and
economic platforms right after the World
War I.
30
Kosovo, possesses a far
more
complicated status than most of the states
that declared her independancy after a
civil war. This is both because of her
geopolitical position and historical
process, mostly dominated with the ethnic
slaughter by the Serbian dictator;
Slobodan Milosevic. The continuous but
unspoken altercationnm
between the
United States, who gives full support to
the Kosovan authority and on the other
hand the Russian Federation, having
declared her unfavorable demeanor to
recognize Kosovo,
keeps the tension
throughout the region on possibly the
highest level. Moreover, the misionery
attempts of the West-European states,
such as Germany and Italy on the Kosovan
people, consisted of Muslims dominantly
who have Albanian and Turkish roots
diverts the dispute to another complicated
status.
The attitude of Turkey,on the other
hand, who has been struggling with the
rebel minorities is being watched on as
the latest nationalist movement of Kosovo
happens to will affect the ethnic disputes
among the world.Likewise, Turkish
Republic Of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is
waited to make a well-planned diplomatic
move to revive the recognition issue on
international level.
Balkans, and its new member
Kosovo, who is trying to obtain a position
on diplomatic platforms, seems to will
sustain being the focal point of the
disputes
on the upcoming day.
The Winds of Change
Alca Kara
Three years ago, when I first
started Debate Club (it wasn’t PDC back
then) there weren’t many people
interested in MUN or any other politics
related activity. The people in our school
knew we did MUN but they didn’t know
what it stood for. I know I had friends
who didn’t know the difference between
UN and NATO nor what they were
abbreviated for. The number of the
Turkish participants at the international
conferences
we’d
attended
was
unbelievably small compared to the other
countries.
The number of Turkish participants in
international conferences also increased
as the time passed by. Both in MUN and in
EYP. Last year, we were only five delegates
and one chair at the Olympic Forum;
however, this year, although the limit was
increased to ten delegates many of the
requests to participate in the conference
were declined by the board.
The high schools started to attend
to university conferences whether they’re
in Turkey or not. For example we have
both participated in MUNTR, EurosimA
and also in YMUN.
However, I saw the difference of their
approach to politics first handed. The ones
that didn’t know what UN stood for
started to ask questions on what we do
and what UN does, how it works. They
later on started to read my resolutions and
asking me questions if they didn’t
understand anything and even started to
comment on some of my clauses.
As the Club, we were the ones who were
into politics however we were only
participating to the MUN Conferences.
Last year we participated in EYP Olympic
Forum and that was the beginning of our
EYP journey.
EYP (European Youth Parliament)
was a format just like MUN that Robert
College students had attended to for years
but as the request to participate in the
conferences increased, they had to form
EYP TURKEY. A board which would
eliminate the delegates taking their
previous experience into consideration.
All in all, the youth of Turkey is
becoming more and more interested in
politics as time goes by. Maybe there’ll be
many more conferences in the near future
and the number of Turkish participants
will be much more than the other
countries and the people of tomorrow will
be already informed about the past and
the present.
31
Make-Your-Own-Conference Kit!
Illustrations by Umut Dinçer - Text by Gökcan Demirkazık and Gamze Karaca
To celebrate our fourth issue we
present you a mind-blowing featurette
that you will not be able to let go easily:
Make-Your-Own-Conference Kit! Read
the instructions on positions, cut out the
personality cards and the figures on the
following page, fold in the figures so that
they can stand upright and finally decide
on an awkward topic (Should Bananas Be
Banned Because of the Possible Violence
They Expose to People?) for the debate to
begin... Enjoy yourselves!
What do the chairs, delegates, admins and
journalists do?
• Chairs are basically the rulers of
the house who dominate the debate and
make sure that everything’s in compliance
with the procedures. An unquestionable
amount of authority belongs to them and
they are probably the most functional
components of the debates: Among
numerous responsibilities, they have the
right to recognize the delegates (for
questions, to make speeches…), make the
house come to order (silencing them) and
organize official documents such as
resolutions and amendments (changes in
resolutions).
In
European
Youth
Parliament (EYP) events, chairs are also
burdened with the task of conducting the
Team Building (TB) sessions, during
which delegates play several games aimed
at coalescing them into a harmonized
committee that will be ready for problemsolving.
32
• In Model United Nations (MUN)
Conferences, delegates represent the
country they are assigned to and they act
according to their countries’ policies (i.e.
holding their own reflections in abeyance)
whereas in European Youth Parliament
(EYP) Conferences, delegates approach
the issue with their own criteria and
principals as well as defining the view of
the world’s youth on a particular issue.
After long hours of discussion, delegates
gather and try to come up with a single
solution (which is in a written form called
a resolution), that will be later on
discussed in the General Assembly (where
the majority of delegates of the whole
conference are present) or any given
platform.
• If you have a curious admin in
your committee, that is possibly the worst
thing that can happen to you. Admins are
the guys that convey your messages to
other delegates/chairs and provide you
with your basic needs such as notepaper,
pens and a Grande Strawberry-flavoured
Chocolate Frappucino.
• Journalists do the things you
perceive when the word “journalist” is
pronounced. They publish the daily
newspaper of the conference and are
quite fond of the latest gossips. They may
be often annoying as they usually
exaggerate what you tell them and print it
on the newspaper that way (just pulling
your legs guys, no offence intended!).
1
2
8
7
6
1- Kâmuran Fuat Suavi (Turkish) : A
true gentleman that is an expert at
chairing hot but excessive and tiresome
debates. Admired by everyone yet loved
by no one, he is just as useful to people
around him as a plastic surgeon is to
Ajda Pekkan. Doesn’t like eating fish at
all and never takes candies from
strangers. His alter-ego is a saucy
musical star that speaks perfect Italian.
Favourite place: Disneyland Paris.
2- Filippus Van Mondig (Dutch) : His
sole reason for attending MUN and EYP
conferences as an admin is that
pleasing his eyes with the images of
beautiful “treats”. Rarely seen awake in
the sessions, he can party whole night.
He is really ticklish and has grown a
liking for dog food. His alter-ego is a
Inuit fisherman who plays the melodica
frequently. Favourite Place: Women
fashion conventions all over the world.
3Alex
Rodion
Dimirkakuchka
(English/Russian): This cute little curious
boy seems not old enough to be a part of
MUN conferences but he serves as the
excellent journalist: He has been trained
by the FSB (Russian Secret Police) on
surveillance systems and places listening
devices wherever he goes. His alter-ego is
a horrible mix of Fyodor Dostoyevsky and
Paris Hilton. Favourite Place: Imperial
War Museum.
5Bruno
Shaiser
(German/Emirati):
Ethnically
complicated with roots from each
continent. Rarely complies with
the dress code. He is also a Disney
star that hasn’t still taken up drugs
(Lindsay Lohan tried to persuade
him into it once!). His alter-ego is
a “the X-files” geek obsessed with
proving that bath ducks are aliens
indeed.
Favourite
Place:
Foliébergere Night Club in Paris.
6- Tatu Dreyfus (Finnish) : He can be
easily distinguished from other delegates
by his irrelevant points (For example: “But
what about the women in Côte d’Ivoire?”
whilst debating Nuclear Disarmament in
Iran) and his exclamations of wonder
with his screeching voice when he learns
something new (Saddam is DEAD?!?!)
during the debates. His alter-ego is a
vegan animal rights activist that secretly
consummates dairy products. Favourite
Place: Local dumping ground.
4- Güz Badana (Turkish): Despite being a
lovely admin, she is extremely myopic. In
her spare time, she walks her neighbours’
dogs, cooks for the homeless and plays
weekly the French horn in her band Zoo
Plighters for charity organizations. Yet, her
altruistic nature cannot prevent her from
being very wasteful with toilet paper and
toothpaste. Her alter-ego is a feisty 1960’s
diva. Favourite Place: Her cardboard-box in
which she can space-travel.
7- Focette de Commenoire (French): As her
extraordinary name may have signaled you,
Focette has a family background dating back to
Medieval French aristocracy. Some even claim
that her great-great-great-grandfather had a
secret affair with celebrated queen Marie
Antoinette. She participates in the conferences
as a delegate to show off her new outfits. Her
alter-ego is a Japanese hotel maid that has 37
goldfish at home. Favourite Place: John
Galliano Store in Champs-Élysées.
8- Hana Kawar (Lebanese): 35%
Craving for success. 30% Greed
34% Fat. 1% Humanity: That sums
up for the woman of your dreams.
Never
consummate
before
shaking. Her alter-ego is a 57year-old retired woman who
collects the balls of the kids that
accidentally
lands
on
her
backyard and never gives them
back. Favourite Place: Gates of
Hell.
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9- Arnold Haye (Swiss): This
enthusiastic delegate has formerly been
an inspiration for a particular American
cartoon series. A little known fact about
him is that he possesses a superpower:
The ability to spread open chicken
wings that are not strong enough to
heave him up to air. His alter-ego is an
antique toy collector who is able to
make gingerbread men come alive.
Favoruite Place: Professor Xavier’s
Academy for Gifted Students.
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Are You A Chair/Journo/Delegate?
Alca Kara
Answer the following questions in order to find out which one is the most suitable for you? Being a
chair, a journo or a delegate?
1. What’s your favorite song?
a. Starlight by Muse
b. When the Sun Goes Down by Arctic
Monkeys
c. Always Somewhere by the Scorpions
2. Which Lost character is your favorite?
a.
Jack
b.
Kate
c.
Sayeed
3. What’s your favorite TV series?
a. Nip/Tuck
b. Scrubs
c. Lost
4. Who’s your favorite actor?
a. James McAvoy
b. Gael Garcia Bernal
c. Al Pacino
5.
9. If you had one day to spend with one of
the present-day politicians, who would it
be?
a. Nicholas Sarkozy
b. Barrack Obama
c. Fidel Castro
10. What would be the perfect summer
plan?
a. Going to Uganda with Invisible
Children
b. A bohemian three-month-long stay in
Montrmartre, Paris
c. Going to Alaska with Work and
Travel Program
If you survived a plane wreck and found
yourself on an island, which 3 things
would you take with yourself?
a. Magazines, water purifier and Matt
Bellamy
b. Audrey Tautou, jeans, white chocolate
of generous quantities
c. Guns with bullets, wax and Al Pacino
6. If you had $1,000,000,000 for one day,
what would you do?
a. Send the money to my Swiss accounts
and use it for the rest of my life
b. Executing
and
directing
an
independent movie with Jean-Pierre
Jeunet
c. Set on a world tour
7. Which movie would most reflect your
own life?
a. Never Been Kissed
b. Pan’s Labyrinth
c. Jeux d’Enfants
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8. What’s your favorite soda?
a. Uludağ
b. Çamlıca
c. Beypazarı
11. Which songs would be the top three
songs you’ve listened to in your iPod?
a. Cherry Blossomed Girl by Air,
Unintended by Muse and Hate Me by
Blue October
b. Driftwood by Travis, Closer by Joshua
Radin, Naïve by the Kooks
c. Sweet Softly Love by Andy Williams,
Stay On These Roads by A-Ha, Seni
Seviyorum by Rafet El Roman
12.
What would be at the top of your mustdo list before death?
a. Go to Paris or London and do
whatever I want for the last time
b. Screaming down a deep cliff at the top
of my lungs
c. Going to picnic with Al Pacino and his
kids on a Sunday
13. What is your biggest obsession?
a. Brit accent
b. Hershey’s Chocolate
c. Al Pacino
Mostly As:
If you’ve answered the questions above
with mostly As, that means you are able to
let the delegates have fun and connect the
officials’ team and the delegates. Yes, that
means you’re perfectly capable of being a
journo! You’ll know all the gossips and
the delegates’ thoughts whilst you’re best
friends with the rest of the officials’ team.
Just be careful to take nice pictures and
try to capture the funniest moments!
14. If you had a chance to choose a
superpower, what would it be?
a. Time travel
b. Flying with wings
c. Reading minds
15. Where do you think is the most relaxing
place on Earth?
a. Lake Como
b. Any Scandinavian City
c. Seychelles
16. What’s your favorite Beatles song?
a. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
b. Hey Jude
c. Let It Be
17. What are your top three favorite books
and their authors?
a. The Queen’s Confession – The Story of
Marie Antoinette by Victoria Holt,
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
and the Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa
Gregory
b. New York Trilogy by Paul Auster, A
Million Little Pieces by James Frey,
Happy Days by Samuel Beckett
c. Skeleton Crew by Stephen King, Mona
Lisa Smile by Aldous Hugsley, 1984
by George Orwell
18. What’s your favorite movie?
a. Pan’s Labyrinth
b. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
c. The Godfather
Mostly Bs:
If you’ve answered the questions above
with a lot of Team Building! You’ll mostly
Bs, that means you’re going to do be the
one all the Officials’ Team tries to
entertain. Yes, you’ll be perfect as a
delegate. You’ll be the one who doesn’t
write the newspaper but enjoys it, and
also the one who talks in the GA! Be
careful to follow the debate to save
yourself from possible embarrassments!
Mostly Cs:
If you’ve answered the questions above
with mostly Cs, that means you’re going
to be another member of the Officials’
Team. You’ll be like the ones who are
always mentioned in the newspaper and
also the one who can go and take a quick
nap at the journo room, of course if the
journos let you…Yes, you’ll fit with the
Chairs just perfect. We recommend you to
be in good relations with your journo in
order to take advantages of their room
and also have fun and learn the gossips
throughout the session.
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